1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image quality selecting method applied for a digital camera, and a camera which uses the image quality selecting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image quality of a recorded image in a digital camera is usually specified by two parameters, number of imaging pixels and an image compression rate. In a conventional digital camera, the number of imaging pixels and the image compression rate are independent setting sections, and they are set individually, or a combination of a specific number of imaging pixels and a specific image compression rate is selected so as to set the number of imaging pixels and the image compression rate together.
However, the digital camera in which the number of pixels and the compression rate are individually set has a disadvantage in that a type of the compression rate cannot be confirmed at the time of selecting the number of pixels, while a type of the pixels cannot be confirmed at the time of selecting the compression rate. Moreover, If the digital camera is a type in which the combination of the number of pixels and the compression rate is selected, the combination is presented only by a list or, evaluation of an overall image quality is presented only by simple symbols such as numbers of asterisks. As a result, contents of the combination of the number of pixels and the compression rate which are actually set cannot be easily confirmed.
Further, if a menu for setting the number of imaging pixels and the image compression rate is a special mode (such as a set-up mode) in the conventional digital camera, the number of photographable images cannot be confirmed when the user selects the number of pixels and the compression rate with the set-up mode. On the contrary, if a setting for the number of pixels and the compression rate can be changed in a still image mode, number of photographable images is changed as changing the number of pixels and the compression rate; however, a camera with an information display screen in addition to a liquid crystal display (LCD) for image display does not display a remaining time for recording a moving image even though the number of photographable images is changed.